The triskelion on the front of the wheel is backwards. This happened by accident when transferring the image onto the wall; they forgot to reverse it, so, it's actually a mirror image of the symbol of Mann.

The heraldic device of the triskele has been associated with the Isle of Man for centuries. In 1405, Henry IV, King of England gave the Isle of Man to John Stanley. The latter gave Henry two peregrine falcons, and was to provide the same to every future English king on his coronation.

The symbol is closely associated with Sicily, and is attested there as early as the 7th century BC. In 1250, the Holy Roman Emperor died after having ruled Sicily for 52 years. Four years later, the papal legate invested the Sicilian kingship in the young son of King Henry III, of England and for about ten years afterwards Edmund was styled "King of Sicily".

The island was ruled by King Alexander Of Scotland, whose wife was King Henry III daughter, and this familial connection between the English and Scottish royal families could account for the introduction of the triskeles as a symbol of the Isle of Man.

Or, the appearance of the 'triskele' on coins of the tenth century Norse King, Anlaf Cuaran, whose dominion included Dublin and the Isle of Man; and it is probable that the later Manx Kings were a branch of the same dynasty.
All the early examples of the Manx 'Legs' show them as if running sunwise (i.e. clockwise) and to that extent the heraldic symbol of the Island still retained an essential feature of the ancient pagan sun-symbol.

Why did I tell you all of that instead of posting about cars? I've always wanted to know about that 3 legged thing, and so, as I was learning about the Isle of Man TT, this kept coming up.

It was built in 1854 to pump water from the Great Laxey Mines, which also has a pair of steam locomotives, very small ones, named Ant and Bee

A water-powered wheel was used because the Isle of Man does not have a supply of coal for a steam-powered pump.

250 imperial gallons of water a minute from the Laxey mines some 200 yards away and 1,500 feet below ground

The mine employed over 600 miners at its peak, producing lead, copper, silver and zinc, until it closed in 1929. In 1965 the Manx Government bought the wheel and site. The wheel was restored; in 1989,

The head of the government is the Queen of England, but the island is like Bermuda, it's an internally self-governing dependent territory of the Crown which is not part of the United Kingdom, even though it's located off the coast of England.

The island takes a holiday for the TT Senior Race Day... and that... THAT is cool. Tell me of any other country taking a holiday for a vehicle race!

the MOT of Great Britain, Ministry of Transportation, tests vehicles over three years old used on anything defined as a road in the Road Traffic Act 1988

The test was originally just the basic test of brakes, lights and steering after the vehicle was ten years old and every year thereafter. When they checked the brakes back in the early 70s, they put one of these Tapley G Meters on the floor. Steve was telling about it this morning. The testing guy would slam on the brakes and sometimes caused crashes and wrecks and the govt had to change that up and test the brakes on a set of rollers

This became known as the "ten year test", or alternatively the "Ministry of Transport Test". The high failure rate resulted in the age that vehicles became due for testing being reduced to seven years in 1962

Now the windshield wipers are tested, the exhaust NOISE is measured against the standard for that make, model, and year, and the lights are checked. They don't want owners to feel like they can OWN the car and change it to improve it's looks or performance.

Friday, February 17, 2017

Skip the first half of the video (of course) and poof, like a magician made it disappear.

A five-lane, 3-mile stretch of southbound Interstate-15 is down to two lanes in California’s Cajon Pass after a portion of roadway washed away, causing a fire engine to tumble off the side of the highway between Highway 138 and Cleghorn Road, according to San Bernardino County Fire spokesman Eric Sherwin. All firefighters on board were able to escape before the engine fell a few minutes later.

SO, they had already realized it was dangerously parked, but didn't move it. Gravity did though

So yeah, when I say Labourdette, I figure some of you readers will recall the stupendous cars I've shown you made by that French master carrossier

Some carozzeria are like that to me, one example of their work just stands out of my memory bank of cars and smacks me in the brain like a basketball to the face. The Jonkheere Rolls is another example, and so is the Vanvooren name, see the next post

The book, the Kellner Affair tells the fascinating story of how some people in the French luxury car business who fought bravely against the Nazi occupation force in Paris.

Because you've never heard about Mont Valérien, the prison fortress and Nazi place of execution.

One early morning, the condemned had been transported to the place of execution. The firing squad made ready. The famous coachbuilder Jacques Kellner and Georges Paulin, the gifted designer of gorgeous aerodynamic cars, were dead.

For the Gestapo-controlled court that had handed down the death sentences and the German conscripts who fired the bullets, it was a case of finishing the business, once the culprits had been caught and “justice” metered out. Some names to cross off a list. For France and the nascent French Résistance, it was the loss of heroes who had been willing to give their lives to fight the Nazis and paid the price. For their relatives and loved ones, it was the unbearable loss of what they held dearest in the world.

The author had this to say:

"We started out wanting to tell the story of Joseph Figoni’s life and the story of the marvelous designs he created – that will be a large work: Joseph Figoni, le Grand Couturier de la Carrosserie Automobile (the book is in English). It will be published simultaneously with The Kellner Affair. But as with our previous book about Jacques Saoutchik, we also wanted to set that story into relief against the backdrop of important events that transpired in the protagonist’s lifetime. Since Joseph Figoni became involved—albeit peripherally—with the Phill reseau that counted his colleague and competitor Jacques Kellner and the designer Georges Paulin among its members, much of this backdrop necessarily concerned the fall of France in 1940, the subsequent occupation by the Germans, the formation of the resistance group and what happened to it.
First we were going to write it into the body text of the Figoni book. We soon realized that was no good, so we decided to write about Kellner, Paulin and Phill as a series of interludes inserted in the Figoni biography – sort of like a novel with two parallel storylines, and structured in such a manner that they could be read independently.
Then the number of interludes started growing. Every time a new dossier came our way, it was clear that the hunt could not stop until we were reasonably sure there were no more to be found. With the dossiers that will be reproduced in an appendix in the back of this book, it became clear that the parallel storyline route also would not work. So we have decided to bite the bullet, and The Kellner Affair will now be a stand-alone book. The Kellner Affair will both be included as a fourth volume with the Figoni book, and published on its own."

Produced in 1959 the Atlas 10/12 cwt pickup was marketed as a ‘Sturdy, reliable, easy to handle and all always quick off the mark whatever the weather.’

Fully restored in 1997 this multi award winning pickup is in immaculate condition proudly wearing the shell branding. The history file contains original brochures, servicing manuals and a variety of MOTs along with historic photos of the vehicle in past liveries, medals and trophies.

This would be the ideal Goodwood ride, with the pick-up bay more than capable of carrying a few period-correct passengers revelling in the Revival atmosphere.'

Not many people who don't ride bikes for a living, or for long distances - like across continents - have heard of the people that do. Okay, we've all heard of Lance Armstrong, but you may already see where I'm going with this... he doesn't ride for distance, he rides to win the Tour de France.

There are some people who somehow can afford to not have a job, and maybe it's because they don't have to pay rent, because they never sleep in a bedroom... they sleep on the roadside, in parks, or where ever they are when they realize they are too wiped out to keep biking.

Among them, is Lael Wilcox, and to read her blog is to see that the riders know each other, they meet up on the roads sometime, in this country or other ones, and some are just well known among the bikers that read biking magazines instead of Hot Rod, Rodders Journal, Automobile, etc.

Well, I was blown away to read that Lael rode TO the race from Canada to Mexico, a 2800 mile amateur race that I've only just learned of, the Tour Divide. Just how damn astonishing is it to ride 2100 miles to get to the start of a bike race? Blows my mind. But, going back to what I said earlier, only because I had no idea that all she seems to do in this world is ride a bike. Everywhere. For the last 9 years she's biked all over the planet. Europe, the middle East, Canada, America, Africa etc etc. So, for her, getting to the race was a thing that didn't even matter, it was just what was needed.

You can read her article about the race https://laelwilcox.com/2015/09/12/tour-divide-story/ but she doesn't follow it up with remarks about crushing the previous record, by 2 days, or what she did after... the next entry in her blog is her heading out on another ride.

Who knew, she also runs for fun and did this REI video which really covers a LOT like the Tour Divide

For 2016, she rode the Trans Am (cross America) from Astoria Washington to Yorktown Virginia, a 4400 mile race.... and she won it. I didn't categorize that as "she won the women's category" no... she WON the WHOLE DAMN THING. And broke the record for doing it the fastest.

The race format is strictly self-supported, and it is not a stage race - the clock runs continuously from the start until riders cross the finish line, more than two weeks later.

The race has a very low profile, has no entry fees, no sponsorship, and no prizes. Although "letters of intent" from likely starters are encouraged, any rider may turn up on the day to participate.

Challenges along the route include mountains, great distances between resupply towns, risk of mechanical failure or injury, bears, poor weather, snowfall, and significant unrideable sections that require pushing the bike.

Riders usually adopt a "bikepacking" style, carrying minimal equipment sufficient for camping or bivouacking, and only enough food and water to last until the next town. In this way, riders ride huge distances each day.

It was tirelessly mapped over a 4 year span, and published in 1998, highlighted by long dirt roads and jeep trails that wend their way through forgotten passes of the Continental Divide. It travels through Canadian provinces of Alberta and British Columbia, and the United States of Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, Colorado, and New Mexico

Honda Motor Europe is delighted to be re-signing John McGuinness, and just signed up Guy Martin to ride the all-new Honda CBR1000RR Fireblade SP2.

That's the 2017 Honda Road Racing Superbike assault at the North West 200 and Isle of Man TT

Really, of all the racers at the TT, who would you most like to hang out with for a day? Exactly, this goof ball with zero censorship, lots of moxy, and plenty of chutzpah

I have watched the "Closer to the Edge" documentary, it's cool. Watch that. And the documentary where he races up Pikes Peak... but I hadn't decided to dive in and see what all this crazy bugger is up to... and I just learned he broke his damn back last August in the Ulster Gran Prix. He's made the podium 15 times at the Isle of Man TT

So, reading up on him through Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guy_Martin I learned that after the normal amount of schools, he went to college for mechanics, but after a month realized that they were only teaching him stuff he already knew, or shit he was never going to use. Plus, he wasn't earning any income while there, so he dropped out (makes sense to me) and was quickly snapped up as a mechanic at a Volvo Trucking outfit, and then a Scania outfit, and he has remained working as a trucking mechanic throughout all the rest of the tv specials, movies, and races.

Here's what he had to say in an interview:
I’m an amateur motorbike racer – it’s not my job but I’ve done all right. It’s good because, if I don’t get the results I want, I’ve got that excuse. But when I beat the other boys, I say, ‘It’s your job and you still can’t beat me!’ It’s a short career and in motorbike racing you’re not earning mega money. So I’ve always had my truck job. We’re like the Ferrari dealers of the truck world. I do general maintenance on the trucks, which is a legal requirement if you’re making a living running a truck. I take two weeks off from my job to go and race the TT and I always try to get a job while I’m there, because we only practise in the evenings. I do it to switch off. I painted a garage last year and this year I’m painting the house owned by the same guy. It’s like being in my shed.

When staging the new cast of Top Gear, Chris Evans invited him to be on the new show as a presenter. Wisely, Guy turned that down and avoided being on the train during the train wreck show flop. "With the programmes I do on Channel 4 I'm wagging my own tail, not having it wagged for me."

Martin has written 4 books, his autobiography, Guy Martin: My Autobiography, it reached No.1 in the Sunday Times bestseller list, followed by Guy Martin: When You Dead, You Dead, covering the previous year in diary format, from the 24-hour Solo World Mountain Bike Championship to the Isle of Man TT, it was listed No.1 in online retailer Amazon's sales figures for celebrity autobiographies in November 2015, with his main autobiography being No.10.

October 2016 saw the release of his latest book, titled "Guy Martin: Worms to Catch" featuring Guy's thoughts on the past year and upcoming challenges.
Martin is also listed as the author of companion books for some of his television shows: How Britain Worked, and Speed.

Martin also writes for the driving section of The Sunday Times newspaper. He has written car reviews (on the 2015 Aston Martin Vanquish Carbon, the 2015 Range Rover Sport SVR, the 2015 Ford Transit L2 H2, the 2016 Ford Mustang V8 GT, as well as writing about his own Volvo Vöx and his Wall of Death show.

He also earns money by tuning fellow racer's bikes in the evenings. He also bought a tractor, using it on biomass farms for seasonal muck-spreading at night.

When setting out to make tv show episodes for "Speed With Guy Martin" he has set 3 Guiness World records: Fastest speed on a gravity powered snow sled, Fastest speed in a soapbox, Highest speed on a Wall of Death

He owns a Merlin airplane engine from a 1942 Lancaster bomber, which he plans to install in his front room, alongside a Scania 144 530 truck engine. I like that... that's cool

At age 21 he bought a BMW E46 M3 CSL, followed by a Porsche GT3 RS at age 24, then a new BMW E92 M3 V8, and lastly a 2010 Aston Martin V12 Vantage bought new at age 28.

He found all to be a disappointment or unsuitable in one way or another, being particularly unimpressed with the Vantage, which had been his dream car, but which he found ostentatious, ultimately selling it cheaply, although he had not driven it in 2011 due to the insurance cost, as a result of the number of points on his drivers license for speeding. He now deems supercars by marques such as Aston and Ferrari to be "fake" and for people who "don’t know anything about cars".

By late 2011 he had accrued 21 penalty points on his standard UK driving licence, having been caught speeding many times. Instead of yanking his license at 18 points, the judge showed leniency due to the effect it would have on his livelihood, had he lost it, and let him have another 3. He used them up too.

For the 2015 Isle of Man Senior TT, he took 4th place with a fastest lap average of 132.398 mph, a personal best for Martin and just two seconds slower than race winner and outright lap record holder John McGuinness.